Hello I am Nathan Boone, I live in Belgium and I am currently doing my internship in the Fachhochschule Salzburg University of Applied Sciences in Salzburg.

I had the great opportunity to make part of the Cisco NetAcad team that will be reporting live from the Wings for Life Race Control Centre. This Race is a beautiful initiative from the Wings for Life Foundation. I really like the idea that there are over 50 000 people all over the world running together to collect money for this foundation. This foundation will do spinal cord research with all the money that will be collected. The thing I like the most is that all the collected money directly goes to the foundation.

I am studying Networking and Network Security, so I am very interested on how all the networking and the network security is working at this event. Me and Felix Hartung had a great conversation with Bas Sanders, who is the CEO of Com1 which is providing the internal network of the Race Control Center. I really liked to talk with him because he is an interesting man with a lot of knowledge. We learned a lot about the networking and network security and we will be blogging about these subjects later on.

How did you find your interest for Networking?

I found my interest for Networking because when I was studying Informatics Technology in the University in Brussels, I learned that this is really interesting. It is a technology that is growing and growing. I don’t like to do the same all day long, and networking is something that never is the same, you can always learn new things and implement them in the environment where you are working.

Why do you like it and wanted to learn about it?

Because it find this interesting because it is developing and changing all the time. More and more different networks are merging with IP networks. First there were a lot of independent Phone networks, but now a lot of these phone networks are being merged with a VoIP network. Another example is the live pro sound, in this environment, they use more and more IP networks in order to configure and monitor their devices.

Do you want to work in this profession?

Yes I would like to work with IP networking, I am not sure yet in which environment I would like to work. When I was doing an interview of the person who is responsible for the network in the Wings for Life World Run Control Center, I was surprised how they did this. And this made me interested to work in this kind of environment, because all the people that are working here are really motivated, and they all like their job.

How do you study and learn?

I study most of the time by buying the books about the subjects I want to know more about, I can study better from a book then from a computer screen. But when I don’t find something in the books I have, I search on the internet until I found what I need.

How do you motivate yourself?

When I have a hard time studying, or working, I listen to some music. It relaxes me and motivates me to keep on studying.

Why are you interested in connecting and working with people from different countries and backgrounds in an international team?

Because people from all over the world all have different interests and different points of view. You can learn a lot by just talking about their experiences and how they look at different subjects.

What are your hobbies?

My hobbies are jogging, tennis, and listening to music.

What are your goals?

The goal I have as a student is to successfully finish my Internship in the Fachhochschule Salzburg. And after this, to get my certification for CCNA Security.

My goal in life is to be able to travel a lot and to see the world.

Who are the persons who support you most? What did they help you to achieve?

My family by giving me the opportunity to do my Internship in a foreign country. My girlfriend and my friends by supporting me in every decisions I take. My teachers in Belgium who made me get really interested in networking.

What was the wisest thing anyone ever told you and what did it lead to?

If something does not go well, you just need to keep practicing, keep trying and in the end everything is going to be alright.

What was your best trip and why?

I didn’t really do a best trip but there are two trips that were really good.

One of them was the trip with my family and another family to Senegal in Africa. I had a great time there and I really enjoyed to get to know another culture.

The second one is the trip I the internship that I am doing now. Salzburg is a great city to study and learn.

Have you ever done volunteer work?

Yes, the volunteer work that I do is being a monitor on the playground for young children (from 3,5 years until 12 years). I do this volunteer work every summer vacation if I have the time to do it.

Have you ever cooked a meal (by yourself) for more than 20 people? Tell us about it.

Yes, I organized a birthday party for my brother and I cooked all the hamburgers on the barbeque, we were with around 20 people or more.

How do you look at failure or mistakes and is this how the society in your home country or work culture looks at it?

You need to make mistakes and have failures in order to learn something. I think my country has the same vision around this subject as I do.

Can you share a festival or tradition of your family that you really enjoy?

Every Wednesday we eat with all the family together at my grandma’s house.

What kind of activity are you doing to relax?

I listen to music or I go jogging.

How do you react if something is done differently to the way you are used to?

I will ask the people who did it, why and how they did it. And if I understand why they did it, I can learn from them.

If you would like to stay in touch, I have a Facebook and Linkdin account.